When are you meat-eaters going to realize... (green words are links)

...that animals are not resources!?!?!?!

Animals are animals. They have feelings, they hurt and feel pain, they react to stimuli. Since they are alive, they also have spirits. Do you think God like it when people/you kill His creatures indiscriminately? Or to sate your addictions? Would you like to be referred to as a resource? They are not to be exploited, used, or abused only to satisfy your addictions. Just because you are too weak-willed to admit that you don’t even want to try and quit, or that you should, for your own sake and the planet’s, doesn’t make further slaughter any more justified. If you give the weak-assed justification “Everything in moderation” excuse, well, that means some drug use is OK, isn’t it? How about I pick up a prostitute once a month? That’s fine, isn’t it? It’s only once a month... How about a bit of murder? Once a year all right?

If you LDS people have a problem with this, I refer you to the 89^th section of D&C. The only place that it says that it is OK is in verses 12 and 13, where it says they are to be used sparingly, ONLY IN TIMES OF WINTER, COLD OR FAMINE!!!!!!!!!!! Not whenever you feel like it, nor when it is convenient, but out of dire NECESSITY! If you are going to die, then it’s OK, but not at any other time! Priesthood commemoration steak fries? OUT! Bacon and pancakes with milk for breakfast for Father and Son’s outings? Nope! Fried chicken at Elder’s quorum activities? Unnecessary...

Go ahead and try to justify your position and say “But Jordan, it references in verse 15 section 49:18, which reads “And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;” Read this verse very carefully. Whoever tries to forbid me from abstaining from/not eating meat is not ordained of God. So, if you are going to tell me that I am wrong for not eating meat, I have a news flash for you: you’re the one who is wrong. My ward members who want to call Child Protective Services because I let my 13 year-old child choose not to eat meat (in other words, he chooses for HIMSELF!), you can shove off. You are the ones who are deluded.

Don’t tell me that eating meat in today’s world is ordained of God, especially here in the US. It isn’t. I’m pretty sure that Heavenly Father nor Jesus approve of factory farms (I haven’t read the whole article, I only provide the link to illustrate what a factory farm is. Don’t those breeding sows look comfortable?), nor of raping the earth or the water we drink in order to sustain them. There is NOTHING good that comes from eating meat or animal products of any kind. Those who claim otherwise are deluded and ignorant both of the extent to which meat/animal products contribute to diseases of every kind, and the extent to which the industies destroy everything associated with them. Those who claim so are either ignorant, at best of the devastation, or are being paid by the industries themselves, at worst.

In places like Argentina, where there are few vegan alternatives, you can still choose to eat vegetables. Here in the US, the only excuse someone has is that they are TOO DAMN/ F’ING LAZY AND/OR ADDICTED TO ANIMAL PRODUCTS THAT THEY CAN’T STOP. That’s it: you just choose not to. They aren’t necessary to us, they are a luxury item. There are better plant alternatives, but you are too lazy.

Don’t try and justify to me as to why you can’t stop contributing to wholesale desecration and slaughter of God’s precious creations. Cheese tastes too good to give up? Tough. Steaks are too good to pass up? Quit whining. Milk is better at giving calcium that vegetables? Get real, pull your head out, stop being a pawn of the milk industry and get educated on the realities of calcium. Animal protein is better for human consumption than plant protein? A question for you: Which is more complex and therefore harder to break down and digest, plant or animal protein? Remember that all protein has to be completely broken down and then reconstituted in order to be utilized by the body. I can’t use zebra protein if it is not broken down first. Neither can you. Which is easier to process?

Stop being a pawn, realize that you are addicted to animal products, and choose to not support the destruction of the earth. Methane emissions from factory farm animals is the 2^nd largest contributor to global warming. Where do you think all of the sewage from those farms go? That’s right, in to the water YOU DRINK! The rain forests are being cleared at a catastrophic rate in order to supply your meat addiction. Thanks a lot: In 20 years they will be gone and then we’ll all suffocate because you had to have a burger. You think I exaggerate? Hardly. I could reference painstaking studies that say that if we don’t stop de-forestation, we as a species will be doomed. Another question: how long has that flesh been dead that you are eating, whether avian, bovine or fish? MMMmmmm...rotting flesh. Delicious. And do you think that the USDA cares about protecting you? If you knew the truth, they are more concerned about keeping the businesses working, because the businesses then either kick-back to the USDA officials or they get other benefits, either monetary or otherwise. Also, the USDA has a dual mandate: protect consumers and protect the well-being of agriculture. Who do you think the USDA caters to more? Repeat after me, children...”CONFLICT OF INTEREST!” How much pus, growth hormone, antibiotics and morphine are in that glass of frosty cold milk that you just drank? Remember, factory farms are built for profit, not for taking good care of the cows, so a cow can be mistreated and still produce, even when it has been over-milked and its udders are sore and bleeding.

Admit you have a problem, and that there is a better way to live. Just because something has always been one way doesn’t make it correct or right. What is wrong has always been wrong, regardless of the situational circumstances. Don’t be too lazy to change yourself. The whole point of the gospel is to better ourselves. Commit to yourself that you will do differently, stop contributing to animal cruelty and therefore be a more responsible person.

For myself, I want God to be pleased with me, as he says in verse 13 of section 89: “And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine” Don’t you want him to be pleased with you?